Jeffery Paul Chan was awarded one of this year's PEN Oakland - Josephine Miles Literary Awards for his novel Eat Everything Before You Die. The International Organization of Poets, Essayists and Novelists (PEN) awards are national in scope and presented to individuals who represent a new perception of multicultural literature.
PEN awards were founded in 1989 to address multicultural issues. The Oakland chapter selected the six winners. The late Josephine Miles was a poet, critic and professor of English at UC Berkeley. (Source: AsianWeek, Dec. 2, 2005).